Comment by masfoobar
6 hours ago
Glad I am off Windows (officially)
I've been a Linux user since 2006-7 but still had a Windows PC around just incase I needed it. The odd games or in relation to work.
Windows 11 was just sloooow. It would take 5-20 seconds to load some of my popular programs and I never understood why. I am open to accepting there could be other factors at play rather than claiming "It was Windows" but considering all the other fluff I DO NOT WANT -- I have reached a point of never wanting Windows near my home again.
In the past, with my gripes with Microsoft/Windows, there was always a spot for XP, Vista, 7, or 10. Now, it's just bloat. I laughed when I saw CoPilot in Notepad!
My laptop, which was running Windows 11, is now running Debian. Same program mentioned above open within 0.1-3 seconds. Best of all -- I have great control!
Not to mention how easy it is to install Steam and Epic (Heroic) !!
A few years ago people laughed at the thought Linux would eventually take over. While it may never reach 50% share - I think the numbers will get suprisingly high in the next 10 years. The biggest hit will be when a mid-scale corporation decide to move away from Micrsosoft on end user client machines.
For what it's worth my experience with Windows 11 is that it's slower than Windows 10 for whatever reason, even though I'm doing exactly the same things in exactly the same ways, so it definitely echoes your assessment.
I personally think Windows has historically been the best OS for native development but I'm out. I've used Linux a ton before on/off since ~2003 but at this point it's looking more and more like there'll be no reason to ever install Windows again. I don't get who Windows 11 and all of these AI features is actually for but I know for a fact it's not for me.
Now I have to figure out how to actually get my Nvidia card to actually behave on Linux, or I'll just have to buy an AMD one again. Eventually I might actually start using the Steam Machine as a devbox; we'll see.
What's frustrating is there's a half decent operating system underneath all of this crap. I don't know how much can be attributed to a corporate license, or if our IT department is just working miracles, but on my work laptop there's no bloatware, no spyware, and it boots and loads programs quickly (for Windows).
I have no intention of moving away from Linux on my machines, but this is the most I've enjoyed Windows since 7 (or maybe even XP).
Then I try to use my dad's computer and I want a douse it and myself with bleach.
The irony, is that it suffices Microsoft to turn WSL[0] into a more out of the box experience, running a Windows like desktop environment, to have that as the product most OEMs will actually bother to sell.
Similar to Chromebooks, and Android tablets with keyboard, versus having anyone selling any GNU/Linux hardware at PC stores, past the oldie netbooks wave.
[0] - https://github.com/microsoft/azurelinux
I use WSL because I don't have the option to ditch Windows completely at work.
But here's an example of something that doesn't work well with WSL: having a git repository in Ubuntu (WSL) and reading/modifying it from Sublime Merge on Windows.
I'm forced to rely on the terminal git commands or on VS Code (because it can use a WSL back-end) and it's not ideal to be forced to a couple of options.
With "Works best with Microsoft Linux" stickers, it wouldn't be WSL 2.0 only.
That we already have today, and really WSL is only good enough for me to not bother having VMWare or Virtual Box, as I have been doing since switching back into Windows (during Windows 7 heyday) as main laptop OS.
No. WSL is only half a Linux and even if it weren't, the ballast of the toxic Windoze waste that comes with it makes it unbearable.
I didn't said that WSL would be enough for "Works best with Microsoft Linux" stickers.